INTERNATIONAL PULSE Period: May 2009 6666666 End-Time Church / Pluralism Global Politics Israel

ISRAEL ----- NETANYAHU 'READY FOR PEACE TALKS' 12 April 2009 - Mr Netanyahu offered 'economic peace' to Palestinians, not statehood Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas he intends to resume talks and co-operation to promote peace. It was their first contact since Mr Netanyahu took office on 31 March. Mr Abbas initiated the telephone call, which Mr Netanyahu's office described as "friendly and warm". The new Israeli leader has not publicly endorsed the creation of a fully independent Palestinian state - a fundamental demand of the Palestinians. An Israeli statement said that during his conversation with Mr Abbas, Mr Netanyahu "recalled their past co-operation and conversations, and how he intended to resume this in the future in order to advance peace". 'Not binding' Mr Netanyahu leads a right-leaning coalition, which combines the centre-right, centre-left and far-right parties. During his campaign, he said he was willing to negotiate with the Palestinians but that it was premature to talk of statehood. Instead, he offered Palestinians "economic peace". Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who leads the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, has dismissed past peace initiatives by US administrations. He has also said the previous Israeli government's acceptance of Palestinian statehood was not binding. On Saturday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat reiterated his administration's position that that for peace talks to resume, Israel must declare its support for a two-state solution. Continued: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7995849.stm ----- ERDAN: ISRAEL NOT TAKING ORDERS FROM OBAMA April 6, 2009 - By GIL HOFFMAN, HERB KEINON AND JERUSALEM POST STAFF "Israel does not take orders from [Barack] Obama," Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) said on Monday, responding to an earlier statement by the US president in which he reaffirmed his administration's commitment to all previous understandings between Israel and the Palestinians, including the process launched at Annapolis, Maryland, in 2007. Obama in Turkey Erdan, who is also the liaison between the cabinet and the Knesset, praised Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Israel Beiteinu), who only last week said Israel was not bound by the Annapolis talks because it had never been approved by the cabinet or the Knesset. "In voting for [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu the citizens of Israel have decided that they will not become the US's 51st state," said Erdan, who was representing the coalition in a Knesset discussion of Lieberman's controversial statements. He added, however, that "Obama is a friend of Israel and the United States is an important ally, and everything between us will be the result of communication." The Prime Minister's Office responded to Obama's comments in Turkey by saying, "Israel appreciates President Obama's commitment to Israel's security and to the pursuit of peace." Continued: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562922110&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull ----- NETANYAHU GOVERNMENT RECONSIDERING ROAD MAP April 6, 2009 - By HERB KEINON - JPost.com By HERB KEINON The Netanyahu government is conducting a thorough policy review in which all diplomatic components - from the road map peace plan to the Annapolis process - are being reevaluated, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman attends the first cabinet meeting of Binyamin Netanyahu's new government, Sunday, April 5, 2009. It is for this reason that the Prime Minister's Office was unwilling to comment last week on Avigdor Lieberman's maiden speech as foreign minister, in which he trashed the Annapolis process but said Israel was obligated by the roadmap, a document whose final goal is a two-state solution. The prime minister has no intention of addressing in detail issues such as whether his government is bound by the road map or the Annapolis process until the policy review is completed, the Post has learned. Netanyahu's speech to the Knesset last week, in which he said his government was committed to peace and a three-pronged policy toward the Palestinians that would allow them to rule themselves without endangering Israel, was probably about as specific as he will get in public for the time being. "Over the next few weeks, the government will undergo a policy review on a range of issues, and it is premature to speak of specific government positions," one senior government official said Sunday. Referring to Lieberman's remarks, the official said that until the government adopted a policy, the comments of various ministers reflected their own positions, but not government's. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562917445&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull ----- ISRAELI KNESSET ARYEH ELDAD SAID TO SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON "You came here from the world`s greatest and strongest democracy. You come from the Democratic Party and you know how to recite the familiar mantras, claiming that the United States respects Israel`s democracy and will cooperate with any elected Israeli government. Well, Israeli democracy has spoken: Most Israeli citizens do not wish to establish an Arab terror state in our homeland. If your democracy is real, you should of course respect the democracy of others as well. At this time it appears that the U.S. is planning to appease the Iranians, Syrians and Palestinians by paying with `Israeli currency`. As you recall, dear Mrs. Clinton, we have too much history. We remember what happened when the Free World was willing to sacrifice Czechoslovakia in order to appease Hitler. We are unwilling to risk our very existence in order for the U.S. to buy itself a quiet withdrawal from Iraq. We are also unwilling to see the desire to appease the Sunnis in Iraq to prompt an American payment to the Syrians and Palestinians. Don`t you understand that pressing Israel to renounce the Golan Heights in order to buy Syrian cooperation with the withdrawal from Iraq will not calm the Mideast, bring peace or reinforce Western democracy? Rather, it will encourage the Arabs to continue on the path of terrorism because you will prove to them that terrorism pays off. The U.S. is not fighting jihadist terror in Afghanistan and Iraq because Israel is building houses in the West Bank...." God says: “Therefore wait for me," declares the LORD, "for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them— all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger." Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder. (Zephaniah 3:8-9). The Jerusalem Connection says: As we pray for our leaders, as we must, (I Timothy 2:3-5), we need to fervently pray that they will not turn away from Israel. To do so will imperil our whole country. God told Abraham if there were as few as ten righteous people found in Sodom he would not destroy it. While our moral decline has been momentous, there are still many of God’s righteous that remain in America. Let us appeal to God on the basis of these righteous. Somehow I believe God will be mindful of those when his inevitable judgment comes. Jesus said, “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36). http://www.tjci.org/ ----- ISRAEL 'TAKES FIRM FOOTING ON 'FORBES 2000' April 18, 2009 - By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu - (IsraelNN.com) Israeli companies have taken a firm footing on the 'Forbes 2000' list of the world's largest and best-run businesses, with three more listings than last year. Teva Pharmaceutical tops the Israeli list of 13 companies. Forbes ranked the firms according to rate of growth, long-term forecasts and quality of management. Turkey, where the population is more than 10 times that of Israel, also posted 13 companies. The United States led the pack, as usual, but companies from 62 other countries made the list, including 100 from Japan, 94 from Britain and 94 from China. Teva Pharmaceutical dropped from last year's 346th position to 381st place but outranked all other firms from the Jewish State. Teva is the world's largest generic drug maker, and its shares have been remarkably stable during the past year's stock market crash. USB investment analysts have estimated that Teva will enjoy increased purchases of generic drugs during the recession. Merrill Lynch also has recommended buying the stock. Teva was last quoted on Thursday on the NASDAQ exchange at 46.42, near its all-time high of $50. American markets were closed on Friday for a holiday and will re-open on Monday. The second and third largest Israeli firms on the Forbes 2000 list are Bank Leumi and Bank HaPoalim, followed by the Delek fuel and energy company and the IDB holding Corporation. Four Israeli newcomers on the list are Bezeq, Africa Israel Investments - headed by Lev Levayev, Check Point Software Technology and the Gazit-Globe real estate conglomerate. Israeli Oil Refineries, which suffered a sharp decline in revenues from the recent fall in fuel prices, was dropped from the list. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130854 ----- OBAMA'S CHARM OFFENSIVE FOR RADICAL RULERS ABANDONS ISRAEL TO IRANIAN THREAT - (DEBKA FILES) EXCLUSIVE ANALYSIS April 18, 2009 - The new US president´s dramatic global policy shifts have easily dwarfed the knotty Israeli-Palestinian peace issue handed down from one US president to the next over decades. Barack Obama´s outstretched hand to Venezuela´s Hugo Chavez, Iran´s best friend in the Americas, on April 17, at the summit of American leaders in Port of Prince, made the talk surrounding Special Middle East Envoy George Mitchell´s mission to Jerusalem and Ramallah this week sound eerily like voices from the past. Paragraph-1 Contains After talking to Mitchell, Israel´s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and defense minister Ehud Barak tried the usual bromides: They protested that Jerusalem´s ties with Washington and Jerusalem were as strong as ever and they would work together toward an agreed solution for the Palestinian problem. Paragraph-2 Contains But those words were lost in the black Iranian cloud hanging over the relations. Paragraph-3 Contains Barack Obama has set his sights and heart on friendship with the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran and their radical allies. The name and policies of the occupant of the prime minister´s office in Jerusalem do not matter - any more than Tehran´s determination to complete its nuclear weapons program in defiance of the world, or even its first A-bomb test in a year or two, for which intelligence sources report Tehran is already getting set. Washington may believe it can live with a nuclear-armed Iran – a decision probably taken first under the Bush presidency. But Israel cannot, and may have no option but to part ways with the Obama administration on this point. As a nuclear power, Iran will be able to bend Jerusalem to the will of its enemies: Israel will be forced to unconditionally give Syria the Golan plus extra pieces of territory; tamely accept a Hamas-dominated Palestinian West Bank louring over its heartland and let the Lebanese Hizballah terrorize Galilee in the north at will. All three will make hay under Iran´s nuclear shield. Israel will be stripped of most of its defenses against a radical Islamic Republic anointed by Washington as the reigning regional power and dedicated to its destruction. Paragraph-6 Contains Israel is not the only country in peril. Unlike Israel, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has stuck his neck out, backed quietly by Saudi Arabia, as the only Middle East ruler to stand up to the threat Iran poses to the region directly and through its surrogate, Hizballah. He is openly critical of Washington´s courtship of the revolutionary Islamic republic. Cairo´s Al Ahram Saturday, April 18, accused Iran, Syria, Qatar, Hizballah, Hamas, al Jazeera TV of a conspiracy to overthrow Egyptian government. Paragraph-9 Contains The US president is not daunted by the radicalism or enmity of his new friends. At the Summit of All Americas, Obama greeted Hugo Chavez first, 24 hours after the Venezuelan ruler said: "The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future, inshallah!" Paragraph-10 Contains Using the Muslim blessing to underline the wish for America´s downfall was no bar to the smile and handshake, any more than Chavez´s close personal and political bond with Iran´s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Both have called US leaders devils; the latter has sworn to "wipe Israel off the map." The Venezuelan ruler recently severed its ties with Israel for no provocation and will host a delegation of Hizballah (internationally branded a terrorist organization) in Caracas. The only point relevant to President Obama is that Hugo Chavez is co- architect of the joint Russian-Iranian campaign to displace American influence in the southern hemisphere. The US president has opted for winning America´s enemies over with smiles and embraces rather than punishing them like George W. Bush. Continued: http://www.unitedjerusalem.org/index2.asp?id=1224209 ----- FORMER AMBASSADOR TO US: NO TRUTH IN 'BUSHEHR-FOR-YITZHAR' by Gil Ronen - (IsraelNN.com) A report published on Thursday that U.S. action on Iran was conditional on Israel’s uprooting of Yesha (Judea and Samaria) communities is “apparently a delusional rumor with no connection to reality,” according to former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Zalman Shoval, who vehemently denied the report on Friday morning. According to the report published in the Hebrew-language Yediot Acharonot, top officials in the Obama administration have been discussing a formula they have dubbed “Bushehr for Yitzhar” – a reference to the Iranian nuclear reactor at Bushehr and the community of Yitzhar in Samaria. The idea behind the slogan is supposedly that if Israel wants the U.S. to help it manage the Iranian nuclear threat, it needs to tear down its Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. “I do not for a moment believe that someone in the U.S. came up with a formula like that," said Shoval, who ran for the Knesset on the Likud list during the last election, but didn't make it into the legislature. "After all, the Iranian threat is not just a threat on Israel but also on America and its European [allies], so that one cannot link between settlements and Iran. One could almost think that if Israel does not tear down Yitzhar, Iran will not be a threat on the Western countries and the U.S.” Continued: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130907 ----- OLMERT'S CANCER MICROSCOPIC TO MAJOR WITH GROWING CRISES April 18, 2009 By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu - (IsraelNN.com) Immediate past-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is set to travel within a week to the United States for an undetermined amount of time for an operation on a prostate cancer that was "microscopic" only 18 months ago. He originally disclosed his condition when he was facing a threat to his government due to criminal probes. The latest update on his condition came shortly before he was supposed to face a hearing on indictment, and he won a court challenge to his plans to leave the country. Olmert first revealed in October 2007 that he had prostate cancer. In a dramatic announcement, he stated that a prime minister must be candid about his health. Olmert quoted physicians as saying, "Initial signs of a cancerous growth have been identified. It is a microscopic growth, which has not metastasized and which can be removed in a short surgical procedure. According to medical opinion, there will be no need for radiation or chemotherapy treatment." Olmert, who took office after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a strike that has since left him comatose, emphasized in his announcement, "The citizens of Israel have the right to know, and I feel obliged to inform them on this matter." Continued: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130856 ----- ATHEISTS, LEFTISTS JOIN CATHOLIC PETITION FOR POPE TO VISIT GAZA April 18, 2009 - by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (IsraelNN.com) Graduate theological students at the predominantly left-wing and pro-Arab University of Berkeley in California are spearheading a petition to Pope Benedict that he visit Gaza during his visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority next month. The Vatican has not commented. Church Times, a British-based Anglican Church weekly newspaper, said that most of the signatories are Roman Catholics but that Muslims, Buddhists, humanists and atheists also have signed the petition. The move is the latest leftist initiative to boost the image of Hamas as a legitimate party to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The petition claims that "the people of Gaza have been suffering under unjust social systems" while Israelis are living in “fear, distrust, and uncertainty." Approximately 2,000 Catholics live in Gaza, who often have been attacked under the Hamas regime that seized full control of the region two years ago. In June 2007, a Catholic convent and school were ransacked and religious articles and books were desecrated. Three months later, pipe bombs struck a Greek Orthodox Church following Pope Benedict's comments that were interpreted as in insult to the Muslim religion. The Jerusalem branch of the Roman Catholic Caritas charity organization has been promoting the Berkeley initiative, and the Church Times reported that senior Catholic officials have asked Israel to allow Gaza Christians to leave Gaza for a mass led by the Pope in Bethlehem. The international Caritas group campaigned against Israel during the Operation Cast Lead counterterror campaign in Gaza, blaming the IDF for endangering the lives of medical personnel and civilians in Gaza. It also called for an end to rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas terrorists. The petition to Pope Benedict XVI states, "When we ask, 'Whose equal dignity is most unequally ignored?' or 'Whose equal rights are most unequally threatened?' the faces of the people in Gaza clearly arise.... "... we need to be willing to risk our lives without the protection of arms, and thus, to live by the loving wisdom of the cross and the divine hope of the resurrection. Such witness by Church leadership will inspire the Catholic faithful, particularly the young, to embrace their Church.... Such witness will also encourage other religious leaders to practice nonviolent peacemaking." http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130837 ----- OMERT FACES THIRD INDICTMENT April 2009 - by Hillel Fendel - IsraelNN.com Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has informed ex-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he “is considering” indicting him on a third set of charges. This is widely understood to mean that a criminal indictment-and-trial is on the way. The Olmert score thus far: Three indictments, two closed cases, and one (involving suspicions of political appointments) still pending. The latest indictment against Olmert, as the others (see below), is still contingent upon a special hearing to be granted Olmert, if he wishes. Mazuz is considering uniting the three indictments into one charge sheet. The latest indictment deals with what has become known as the Investment Center case, and deals with Olmert’s activities as a Cabinet minister – mostly in the Ministry of Industry and Trade – between the years 2003 and 2006. He is suspected of having acted with a conflict of interest and making decisions advancing the interests of clients of his good friend, former law partner, and personal attorney Uri Messer. For instance, Olmert allegedly made a decision to raise the import tariffs on certain oils, thus benefiting a Messer client who manufactures oil in Israel. The decision was made just a month after a professional ministry decision had been made to lower the tariffs. Other cases in which Olmert allegedly intervened to help Messer’s clients involve the Siliket Project, the Nevatim Project, and Bezeq. Olmert stands to be indicted on two other cases as well: The Talansky cash envelopes case, in which he is suspected of having received tens of thousands of unreported dollars from an American businessman, and RishonTours, in which Olmert is suspected of double-billing – taking money from more than one philanthropic organization to pay for the same trips to the United States, and using the balance to pay for flights of his wife and daughter. Olmert now stands accused of helping a client company of Messer’s by shortening the period required to receive its “approved business” status, lowering the required deposit from $15 million to $5 million, participating in the decision to grant it a discount on land prices, and more. The charge sheet states that Olmert’s behavior in general “violated the law, norms and rules that obligate a minister and a public servant… His actions constitute a grave blow to the purity of behavior of public servants, the public trust in the government, and the proper functioning of public administration… He is ostensibly guilty of breach of trust and fraud…” Continued: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130767 ----- JEWS FROM FORMER SOVIET ARE PAYING BACK. FIVE RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRES THEY HAVE Russian billionaires have contributed $20 million to try to overcome lack of Jewish identity. The billionaires have formed the Genesis Philanthropy Group, which has awarded a large grant to Brandeis University, considered a bastion of many Jewish students who are pro-Arab and detached from Jewish traditions. http://www.shamrak.com ----- BLACKMAIL BY 'PEACE' WITH NO PEACE 1) Syrian President Bashar Assad said his country would regain the Golan Heights by "peace or war" and affirmed Syria's ties to Iran, in an interview with a Qatari newspaper that was published on Thursday. He said: "The day must come and we will liberate (the Golan Heights) by peace or war. "When a citizen loses hope, he walks toward 'the resistance' in one way or another." The word "Resistance" is a code word for violence and terror and is used to describe activities of groups such as Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hizbullah. 2) Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in Iraq on Sunday that the Netanyahu government must halt all building in Judea and Samaria and accept the establishment of a new PA state as conditions for the resumption of negotiations, disregarding Binyamin Netanyahu's call for "peace and security." shamrak.com WHAT WOULD PALESTINE WANT US TO DO? April 16, 2009 - We now know how Nothingyahoo (Netanyahu) intends to pursue the classic Israeli policy of engaging in endless "Peace Talks" without the intention of reaching any peace based on International law. He says to US envoy George Mitchell that his government wants the Palestinians to agree to recognize Israel not just as a state but as “A JEWISH STATE” before beginning to discuss the possibility of a two-state solution. This is like South Africa under apartheid insisting that the ANC recognize South Africa as a White State before beginning to discuss the possibility of giving the blacks a state (a Bantustan). Even without complying with International law and allowing the Palestinian refugees to return, there are 20-25% of the population in Israel who are not Jewish and are already targeted (Israel’s foreign minister who came from abroad and has no connection to the land wants to get rid of the natives). If there is a definition of Chutzpah then this notion of recognizing a racist “Jewish state” as precondition even for talks is it. Unfortunately, this is only made possible by the lack of a Palestinian coherent strategy to face the regional and International challenges including outright attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause. Instead, the struggle between Hamas and Fateh have now become a defacto struggle between leadership of two prisoner factions for leadership of prison blocks (Gaza and the five cantons in the West Bank) and the struggle for freedom has receded to lower priority if not outright ignored. An encouraging sign came when Mahmoud Abbas said he would demand a freeze to settlements before returning to talks (we will see if this holds). The Obama administration beginning to talk with Iran on its nuclear program does not necessarily imply progress as we the Palestinians may end up being just another bargaining chip in these international chess games. Egypt’s spat with Iran and Hizballah is also part of this political positioning for influence and relevance. There are International powers (principally Russia, US, and to a lesser degree major European countries) and there are regional powers (Israel, Turkey, Iran, and to a much lesser degree Egypt and Syria). All now have a say or at least want a say in Palestinian affairs and are having major inroads thanks to the disastrous route taken in the last 15 years (especially the fragmentation of the Palestinian collective). Since Hamas and Fateh are the two largest Palestinian factions, they hold the biggest share of responsibility for this pathetic (though not hopeless) state of disjointed affairs. In Birzeit University student elections, the factional competition was strong but held in a civil discourse. Of 51 seats, the block affiliated with Fateh got 24 seats and that with Hamas 22 seats (last year it was 25 and 19). It shows that among the youth and in this rather progressive school, these two parties remain with strong support despite their leadership not getting us any closer to freedom. But it also emphasized that no truly national discourse of liberation could be achieved by either of those two groups alone or in competition using their current political platforms and mechanisms. It emphasized the need to reconciliation and agreement but more important for a reevaluation of the discourse taken by these groups since 1988 (the founding of Hamas and the Fateh-led effort to implement a two-state solution along the 1967 borders). Twenty years forward we are in far worse shape than what we were in 1987. There are now 450,000 colonial settlers in the West Bank and Israel accelerated its relentless plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine of its native people and Judaicize the whole country (including East Jerusalem). While Israel destroyed 3000 homes in Gaza in 3 weeks of bombardment, it plans to finish destroying that number of homes in Jerusalem in two months. It is thus not a matter of left-right or religious-secular differences that matter, but a fateful future of what remains of Palestinians in Palestine after 61 years of relentless onslaught. Yes, we have had a bad deal and conspiracies from the International community (who can forget Balfour, Syjkkes-Picot, the US funding and shielding of apartheid Israel etc) and a bad deal and conspiracies from Arab countries (far too long to list here). But we also have to look in the mirror and I am not just talking here about the factions (Hamas, Fateh, left wing parties) but also as people. I sometimes look at the scarring of Palestine with colonial settlements everywhere growing like a cancer and feel tears rolling down my cheek and the need to personally apologize. Political Zionism indeed was a racist colonial system with lots of internal support. But it was aided and abetted by many, many people and facilitated by the silence and indifference of millions. We have all let the Holy Land down by not rising to the challenges. All of us were tested: the native people (Palestinian Jews, Christians, and Muslims) and people internationally (and not just politicians). If some higher power was grading our performances would we get an F, a D, or a C- for most of us. Some have done better than expected and certainly thousands paid the ultimate price (deserve an A+). And my research in the past few months revealed that resistance (most of it civil) did make a huge difference (without such principled resistance, the more ambitious Zionist goals of the Nile to Euphrates would be far closer). But it is fair to ask the questions and demand that we collectively sit down TOGETHER and plan and act to change. In other words to do better. Some are now talking about Fateh going back to its founding documents about a democratic state for all its people (and thus accept that the Oslo discourse failed). Some are urging Hamas to reeducate its cadres about the diverse nature of Palestinian society (yes including the presence of Jews and Christians in Palestine) and thus assure skeptics that its ideology is the Islam of pluralistic Spain (AlAndalus) and not the narrow visions of other models that lead only to strife and civil war (e.g. in Taliban Afghanistan). And yes, there are decent Israeli Jews who must feel that there is something in it for them in this transformation. By taking those steps, we can come closer to the only possible long term scenario for a durable peace: one pluralistic democratic state in all of Palestine for all its people. But whether one agrees or disagrees, the time is right to reevaluate, reflect and CHANGE when the status quo becomes intolerable and self-destructive. As individuals we must speak out whether we belong to political camps or we don’t (independent) and more importantly we must act. We can make a difference if we act on our conscience: Wala Yughayir Allah Ma Biqawmen 7atta Yughayuri ma bianfusihim (God does not change what is to happen to a people unless they change what is within themselves). What would Palestine want each of us to do? I am sure these discussions are going on (we had one here in Bethlehem tonight and it was very thought-provoking and involved over 30 people of various political backgrounds). Let us build on them. Action: Sign Petition that “We want the Pope to go to Gaza” and write letters to editor and to the Vatican insisting that this is the right thing to do. http://www.petitiononline.com/popegaza/petition.html email the Pope benedictxvi@vatican.va Find all Vatican Emails: http://www.tldm.org/email/vatican_emails.htm The quentessential Palestinian Experience By Laila El-Haddad, Live from Palestine, 14 April 2009 "For this is what the Palestinian does: we wait. For an answer to be given, for a question to be asked ... for exile to a better place and for return to the only place that knows us ..." Laila El-Haddad writes about her deportation from Egypt while attempting to go home to Gaza. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10463.shtml Laila’s blog is at http://twitter.com/gazamom April 17 is Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, usually marked with sit-in tents, protests and solidarity actions both here and around the world in support of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=19360&CategoryId=3 Birthright unplugged summer trip and BDS institution: Please download application at http://www.birthrightunplugged.org/unplugged/application and email it to info@birthrightunplugged.org it by May 1, 2009. Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD "Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it." Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib http://qumsiyeh.org  NEWSLETTERS  NEWS INDEX MAIN INDEX